Hell is Sewing Scalloped Hems

Monday night and yesterday saw a lot of sewing at the Switzer residence. Monday night... i finished sewing the three scalloped tiers... and it took.....FOR DAYS. Oh my word. I never thought it would be as hard as it was, but it WAS. Scallops are so hard because it's a curved seam, so pressing the seam open (which is what you are supposed to do) is nearly impossible on a flat ironing board, and i don't have a round ironing board... nor a sewing ham. So instead, i tried to sew the seam open with the scallops flat instead of open.... to spare myself the painful reminiscence, i'll just say it sort-of worked. The finished skirt is above, and the scallops DO look good... just dont look too close.

So besides the scallops, my sewing machine was totally off tension. When one bobbin of thread is going in as it should like this ------ and then the other side isn't lying flat on the fabric like UUUU, that is off tension. the UUUU side comes out very easily- you can pull it out at the end of the seam with one tug because it's not hugging to the fabric. Off tension threads rarely happens on my baby bernina, and when it does, it is super annoying, because you sew a whole seam, and you think it looks good from one side, and you turn it over and all your hard work is for nothing! I sewed the lining with the bottom two tiers to the bodice with off-tension thread. That was at 2 am last night, and then i decided to go to bed ( a rhyme! i should write a poem!)

AND the tiers themselves have issues.

As You can see, the second tier is completely off balance, and i'm suspecting that the bottom tier is off as well. Oh golly.

SO my list to get done for this dress before Friday afternoon when i leave for California for Christmas, is to fix the skirt, sew the sleeves, put in the zipper, and sew the jeweled applique on the bodice. Oh and take a final tomorrow and fix a jacket zipper for a friend of mine.

I better get going.